Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn., Jay Greeson column

May 14--Mistakes are plentiful for all of us.

Humans are prone to mistakes, whether innocently committed at full speed or fully, maliciously calculated.

For those on the largest stages, it's not whether mistakes are made, it's how they are handled.

This is magnified in a 24/7 news cycle in which every quote can be dissected and every dissection creates the next wave of news.

For state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, it's been a rough few days.

Wednesday, a Vanderbilt poll showed that an overwhelming number of the 1,001 registered voters polled in the state were in favor of the Insure Tennessee plan Gardenhire helped defeat in a Senate subcommittee earlier this year.

Gardenhire has taken the brunt of carrying the fight against expanding health coverage to 280,000 Tennesseans. He is far from the only Republican in the Legislature opposed to the expansion, but he is the one taking shots for standing his ground.

His conviction and openness -- whether you think he is a buffoon or Braveheart -- should be commended.

It's his openness and natural passion that landed him in hot water earlier this week. He emphatically chided a Nashville reporter while denying that his adult son was ever covered by his taxpayer-subsidized health insurance. The federal Affordable Care Act requires employer-based health plans to permit employees to add coverage for children up to age 26.

"Never. That is spelled with a capital N," Gardenhire was quoted in the Nashville paper.

Gardenhire checked his facts, called the reporter back and corrected himself. He misspoke -- quite exuberantly, mind you -- about his family insurance, which has changed multiple times in recent years.

Do you remember who your insurer was three years ago? Neither do I.

So Gardenhire gaffed and quickly tried to fall on his fumble. He stepped on his tongue, but he's been doing this too long to knowingly lie.

While Gardenhire made headlines for overflapping his gums, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady made news by allegedly under-inflating the football.

Gardenhire's mistake in handling the matter was about ignorance; Brady's ex post facto stumbles have been more about arrogance.

Brady first laughed about the allegations after the AFC championship game in late January. Then he denied them and even had the support on his billionaire boss, Robert Kraft.

Now that the NFL has finished its investigation and suspended Brady for the first four games of the 2015 season -- which will cost him almost $2 million in salary -- Brady is following the unfortunate path of the sports stars who were snared in the performance-enhancing drug scandals. He is denying to the hilt and he is lawyering up.

If Brady is comfortable that he did not participate in the schemes to break the rules about NFL equipment, why did he refuse to cooperate with the investigation?

His penalty is almost assuredly more harsh because of his lack of cooperation in the matter.

Now Brady has hired Jeffrey Kessler for his legal team.

Who is Jeffrey Kessler, you ask? Well, in the NFL's eyes he is a combination of Matlock, Jack McCoy and Perry Mason.

Who was the guy the NFLPA turned to help Ray Rice?

Who was the guy the league turned to get Freeman McNeil's contract overturned and Reggie White's deal settled back in the day that paved the way for free agency in the league?

Who did Bill Belichick hire to fight and beat the NFL and the New York Jets in federal court in 2000?

That was Kessler, Kessler and, yep, Kessler.

So an appeal seems imminent, but the question still looms: If Brady's not guilty, why has he not cooperated?

Either way, you don't hire Kessler to take your medicine and settle. You hire Charles Pitman for that -- 877-9800 is the way to go, after all -- and move along.

Everyone makes mistakes; how they are handled goes to great lengths in determining how they are remembered.

Jay Greeson's column appears on Page A2 on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. His sports columns are scheduled for Tuesdays and Fridays. You can read his online column the "5-at-10" Monday through Friday at times freepress.com after 10 a.m. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @ jgreesontfp.

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